Ethics reform hits towns

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Monday, January 17, 2005

"Credibility and reputation are all you have," said Gay, also the treasurer of the Connecticut Public Purchasers Association. "You have to treat all vendors fairly. If you don't treat everyone fairly, you will have fewer bids in the future and that is a bad deal for the taxpayers."

Like Gay, city and town officials say they're all for good conduct from those on the public payroll. However, some question whether state government - hardly a bastion of ethical behavior in recent years - should set the standards.

Both Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democratic lawmakers support requiring cities and towns to adopt municipal ethics codes by 2007. The proposals are part of overall ethics reform agendas released last week by both sides.

Rell's plan would give local communities more flexibility, while Democrats want a single code to govern all cities and towns.

According to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, 69 cities and towns have ethics codes, including all the towns in the Danbury area. But towns could be required to change those codes if a statewide plan is passed.

"I don't believe in the Big Brother mandate. It should not be dictated by people who don't control their own ethics in Hartford," said Newtown First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. "More forms to fill out just makes it more likely an honest person will make a mistake. A crook will not care about ethics anyway. If people think more forms will make crooks honest, they're fooling themselves."

Rosenthal is the first vice president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which doesn't oppose ethics reform, but doesn't want it to burden cities and towns.

The sweeping ethics and campaign finance reforms proposed by state officials comes after a contract steering scandal that led to the resignation and guilty plea of former Gov. John G. Rowland on a federal corruption charge.

However, Rosenthal and others do not want onerous burdens placed on those who volunteer their time to serve on municipal boards and commissions.

"People have told me if they had to file all their finances, they wouldn't serve," Rosenthal said. "They are not dishonest. They just don't want their neighbors to know their finances. We don't want to distract from catching the real criminals to create a hardship for people that want to volunteer their time to their communities."

"It is better to have a uniform code so municipalities will find it easier to adopt rather than come up with their own code and everyone will be on the same sheet," Caruso said.

The ethics code proposed by Democrats would require the registration of lobbyists in city and town halls, public officials to file financial disclosure forms and every city and town to have an ethics commission.

Rell spokesman Rich Harris said the governor's proposal would offer a model for the towns to follow, but the actual language of the codes would be up to the individual governments. Harris said Rell's plan likely wouldn't affect towns that already have ethics codes.

The model for both Rell's plan and the Democratic plan is based on a proposed municipal ethics code drafted by the state Ethics Commission in 1994 the legislature never adopted.

In most cities and towns, elected officials must file financial disclosure forms. Caruso said members of the planning and zoning commissions and other municipal boards with voluntary members should have to meet the same requirements.

"There should be some form of disclosure," Caruso said. "Voluntary or not, a conflict is a conflict. Whether you run or you're appointed, some just don't want the spotlight. This is not uncalled for or unreasonable. They are still conducting business on behalf of taxpayers in their community."

"Our ethics commission has not met in two years because there hasn't been any violations," Murphy said. "It is important to have it because it is important that people realize there are standards. It is also important the public knows there aren't any shenanigans going on."

Andy Sauer, executive director of Connecticut Common Cause, said a provision about financial disclosure for voluntary board members was taken out of a municipal ethics bill last year and cities and towns still opposed it.

Sauer said just requiring a municipality to have a code is not enough if uniform standards are not imposed.

"They could adopt a code that says 'Let's all be good.' It wouldn't have to have real standards," Sauer said. "A small town like New Milford has had all kinds of problems with their ethics commission, so have New Hartford and Enfield, where the commissions are used as political tools."

Kevin Maloney, spokesman for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said the CCM could support Rell's proposal, but wants to see more details.

"It appears that the governor's proposal is not a one-size-fits-all approach," Maloney said. "Towns can come up with what best works in their communities."

Cities such as Bridgeport and Waterbury, which both have ethics codes, still had major public corruption scandals in recent years.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said he does not anticipate many changes for his city.

"In Danbury, we already have an ethics commission and a code," Boughton said. "I do applaud the governor's initiative and understand what she is trying to do."

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, a Democrat who is running for governor in 2006, said her plan for an ethics code is similar to Rell's proposal, except her plan would post financial disclosure and campaign finance information on the Secretary of the State's Web site.

"Municipal candidates will be on our Web site," Bysiewicz said. "This will take a burden off of our town clerks. If you live in Bridgeport and you want to look up a candidate in Waterbury, this would make it much easier."

The new Web site disclosure provision would affect about 130 towns that elect mayors and first selectman independently from their legislative body, Bysiewicz said. Campaign finance reports for candidates for state office are already posted on the Secretary of the State's Web site.

Bysiewicz also calls for all contributions over $100 to candidates for mayor and first selectman candidate from municipal contractors to be specifically noted. That threshold is currently $400.

"In the post-Rowland, Ganim, Giordano era, the public demands and deserves full disclosure and scrutiny of politics at both the state and local level," Bysiewicz said. "Public confidence in government and the electoral process must be a real priority for all elected officials."

New Fairfield First Selectman Peggy Katkocin said she supports ethics laws, but isn't sure there is a need for more rules.

"Look at what happened to Gov. Rowland," she said. "That shows the ethics codes work. He was held accountable."